Image contrast enhancement by optimization of color channel difference using bat algorithm

Contrast enhancement is a popular image processing technique across different applications. Despite simplicity, many of the reported techniques lack in retention of original image features and cause different artifacts due to over or under enhancement. Such limitations cause problems in cases when the contrast enhancement is used prior to com-puter vision tasks. This paper presents a new approach of contrast enhancement where the color channel difference has been optimized using bat algorithm to obtain better contrast, improved naturalness and original image feature retention. The potential of the presented method has been assessed with the low contrast images from standard databases and found to be competitive to established models. At the same time the use of device independent color space provides more versatility of the presented method across different applications.